Tuesday, August 13, 2013

A special prosecutor acting on behalf of the City of Toronto has
charged Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti with five campaign finance offences
relating to the 2010 election.

The charges come after a forensic audit of the York West councillor’s
books that uncovered apparent contraventions of the Municipal Elections
Act, including having exceeded the legal spending limit by 44%. A first
court appearance is set for August 15.

The city’s compliance audit committee launched legal action in
February, and the city retained Brian Gover, of Stockwoods LLP, to
decide what, if any, charges would go before a court. Mr. Mammoliti is
accused of exceeding the candidate spending limit, failing to record or
incorrectly recording campaign contributions and expenses, failing to
keep records of campaign expenses and accepting cash contributions over
$25.

He was charged on July 16. The alleged offences are provincial, not
criminal. If found guilty, he could be fined up to $25,000 per offence
and, in some circumstances, disqualified from office.

Reached by phone
in Vancouver, Mr. Gover said prosecutors must believe there is a
“reasonable prospect of conviction” before filing the charges.

In a statement, Councillor Mammoliti blasted the “frivolous” claims
and suggested he was not given enough time to respond. “We take this
summons from the city very seriously and will vindicate ourselves by
detailed explanation,” he wrote. He has hired prominent lawyer Morris
Manning to argue his case.

Peter Li Preti

“Ultimately, taxpayers deserve an explanation on what appears to be a
politically motivated and biased decision on their dime. The City has
spent almost $500,000 to date on all compliance audits and expenses.
This legal process will potentially cost the City another $200,000,” Mr.
Mammoliti wrote in an email.

An audit by Froese Forensic
Partners found Mr. Li Preti accepted 46 illegal corporate contributions
and went over his $23,917 spending limit by just over $3,000, or 13%,
among other apparent contraventions.

Following the decision, and ignoring his lawyer’s advice not to speak to the media, Mr. Li Preti expressed his disappointment.

“I don’t think I have anything to fear. I think this a political
decision,” he said. “Rob Ford had the same number of contraventions, if
you read this report. The committee did nothing. Other people had the
same number of contraventions, the committee did nothing. But me,
they’re proceeding.”

In February, the committee dropped the investigation into Mr. Ford’s
campaign spending. Auditors identified a number of alleged breaches,
including that Mr. Ford spent 3% over the legal limit and accepted 11
illegal corporate donations.